Polaris Project
Encyclopedia
Polaris Project is a nonprofit, non-governmental organization that works to combat and prevent modern day slavery and human trafficking. The organization works directly with victims, hosts tip and crisis hotlines and offers solutions to those victimized by human trafficking. Founded by Katherine Chon
and Derek Ellerman
, Polaris Project is one of the largest anti-trafficking organizations in the United States and Japan, with programs operating at local, national, and international levels through their offices in Washington, DC; Newark, New Jersey; and Tokyo, Japan. Polaris Project is one of the few organizations working on all forms of trafficking and serving both citizen and foreign national victims of human trafficking.
Polaris Project's vision is for a world without slavery. Named after the North Star that guided slaves towards freedom along the Underground Railroad, Polaris Project has been providing a comprehensive approach to combating human trafficking and modern-day slavery since 2002. This approach includes conducting direct outreach and victim identification, providing social services and transitional housing to victims, operating the National Human Trafficking Resource Center (NHTRC) serving as the central national hotline on human trafficking, advocating for stronger state and Federal anti-trafficking legislation, and engaging community members in local and national grassroots efforts.
Trafficking Victims Protection Act of 2008, reauthorization of the Federal Trafficking Victims Protection Act as well as advancing state policy in more than 25 states.
Katherine Chon
Katherine Chon is the President of the Board of Directors and Co-Founder of Polaris Project in the United States. She started the organization immediately upon graduation with fellow Brown University student Derek Ellerman in 2002 after learning about the issue during her undergraduate studies...
and Derek Ellerman
Derek Ellerman
Derek Ellerman is the Co-Founder, former Co-Executive Director, and current Board Chair of Polaris Project, a Washington DC-based organization that combats human trafficking and modern-day slavery...
, Polaris Project is one of the largest anti-trafficking organizations in the United States and Japan, with programs operating at local, national, and international levels through their offices in Washington, DC; Newark, New Jersey; and Tokyo, Japan. Polaris Project is one of the few organizations working on all forms of trafficking and serving both citizen and foreign national victims of human trafficking.
Polaris Project's vision is for a world without slavery. Named after the North Star that guided slaves towards freedom along the Underground Railroad, Polaris Project has been providing a comprehensive approach to combating human trafficking and modern-day slavery since 2002. This approach includes conducting direct outreach and victim identification, providing social services and transitional housing to victims, operating the National Human Trafficking Resource Center (NHTRC) serving as the central national hotline on human trafficking, advocating for stronger state and Federal anti-trafficking legislation, and engaging community members in local and national grassroots efforts.
History
The Polaris Project was founded in 2002 by Derek Ellerman and Katherine Chon, who were seniors at Brown University, when they were inspired to create this non-profit organization which focuses on ending human trafficking and modern day slavery. The two were inspired by to start the organization after learning about a forced labor criminal case which exposed how six South Korean women were forced to work at a brothel in Providence, Rhode Island. The organization was named after the North Star that led slaves to freedom from the United States south to northern safe grounds on the route commonly referred to as the Underground Railroad prior to the civil war. The organization is committed to ending human trafficking and slavery by working to abolish human slavery in the United States and Japan.National Human Trafficking Resource Center
The NHTRC is a national, 24-hour, toll-free, anti-trafficking hotline operated and implemented by Polaris Project and funded by the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). The NHTRC works to improve the national response to protect victims of human trafficking in the U.S. The NHTRC maintains a national database of anti-trafficking agencies as well as a library of available anti-trafficking resources and materials. The NHTRC also works in collaboration with the anti-trafficking movement in the United States, which includes: HHS Rescue and Restore Coalitions, DOJ-funded Human Trafficking Task Forces, FBI Innocence Lost Task forces, Federal victims' services and outreach grantees, statewide human trafficking task forces, community-based initiatives, and on-going research projects.U.S. Policy Program
Based out of their Washington D.C. headquarters, Polaris Project's U.S. Policy Program works to advance state and federal policy related to the crime of human trafficking, providing services to victims, training state employees, and educating the public. Polaris Project engages in direct lobbying and grassroots outreach. Successes include extensive work on the William WilberforceWilliam Wilberforce
William Wilberforce was a British politician, a philanthropist and a leader of the movement to abolish the slave trade. A native of Kingston upon Hull, Yorkshire, he began his political career in 1780, eventually becoming the independent Member of Parliament for Yorkshire...
Trafficking Victims Protection Act of 2008, reauthorization of the Federal Trafficking Victims Protection Act as well as advancing state policy in more than 25 states.